1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an induction cooking device for home or business use. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a mechanism for cooling heat generating components and heat dissipating components of the induction cooking device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The induction cooking device includes a heating coil for induction heating, and a field circuit. The field circuit includes an inverter circuit which supplies a high frequency current to the heating coil, a driver which drives the inverter circuit, a controller, and a power supply. Various electronic components which constitute the inverter circuit, the driver, the controller, and the power supply mentioned above are mounted on a circuit board disposed inside the induction cooking device.
When an object is inductively heated, heating efficiency differs depending on the magnetic permeability and resistivity of the material of, for instance, cookware which is an object to be heated. Accordingly, heat loss increases and the amount of heat generated by components, such as a heating coil, increases in the induction cooking device, under a condition that cookware having relatively low heating efficiency is used among various types of cookware.
The electronic components on the circuit board include an electronic component which generates an extremely large amount of heat during operation such as, for example, an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or a diode bridge, and furthermore an electronic component such as a capacitor which generates a comparatively small amount of heat. The cooling effect is increased by attaching a heat sink to an electronic component which generates a large amount of heat.
Furthermore, as described above, cooling air from a blower disposed in the induction cooking device compulsorily cools a heating coil and an electronic component which generate a large amount of heat, thus allowing the induction cooking device to normally operate.
For a traditional induction cooking device, a configuration has been proposed in which a large blower which produces a large amount of air is used so that cooling air from the blower is highly efficiently directed to heat generating portions and dissipating portions of a heating coil and an electronic component which generate heat in order to ensure cooling the heating coil and the electronic component (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. S62-136091, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-147303, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-118197).
Induction cooking devices are highly efficient in converting input energy into heat. Moreover, it is easy to control the cooking temperature with induction cooking devices. Further, induction cooking devices produce little radiant heat, are safe, and are easy to clean. Accordingly, induction cooking devices have more advantages than other cooking devices. As such, induction cooking devices are used in many places, and come in a variety of types suitable for different places, such as built-in devices, stand-alone devices, and table-top devices. Examples of business-use induction cooking devices include counter-top devices that are placed on a kitchen counter, and recessed devices that are built into a kitchen counter. These induction cooking devices are designed to withstand use over long periods of time.
Induction cooking devices as described above come in a variety of types according to usage, and the induction cooking devices of all the types are configured to highly efficiently direct cooling air from the blower to a heating coil and an electronic component.